"Just a broken sound"

Just heard that one of my favorite new bands, Florida's Gasoline Heart, are gonna be in Bawlmer next week (July 8). I dig their American roots rock, and the acoustic version of this tune is amazing, mainly because the lyrics seem to shine a tad brighter without all dem gee-tars (O:

Gasoline Heart -Paralyze

"Now I'm walking forever
Forever seems way too near
Hallelujah sings the choir
Raise the dead with the sound of a song
My lips taste like fire
My eyes see no end in sight
When I speak of your glory
My tongue is useless
Just a broken sound"
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Movies, Art, and bugspray

Starting this Thursday, and continuing every week after until mid August, is my lil' hood's outdoor film series. While this type of outdoor movie series is rather easy to find in the summer months, ours is a tad different as it is sponsored in part by the American Visionary Art Museum. So not only do ya get a slightly more interesting variety of films, but the museum itself is open FREE from 7-9 (films start at 9)

So grab yer bugspray, and head ta Bawlmer, ands ketch ya sum flix and culture, Hon.
D'art's gots parkin' too (O:

* July 2, 2009 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
* July 9 - Dr. Strangelove
* July 16 - The Time Machine
* July 23 - Sleeper
* July 30 - Dr. No
* August 6 - The King and I
* August 13 - Ghostbusters
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Opus Day, or why Authority matters

Book Smart-a**

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Having a tinge of heartburn, and as I live near a hospital, I thought I'd grab my lap top and drive to the ER.

If I get pulled over for speeding, I will of course show the officer my own version of the Drivers' Handbook, where I have crossed out, or added to, sections as the spirit lead me.

Once at the hospital I figure I can just Google "Triple bypass", and with a can opener, a prayer, and all the knowledge the web has to offer, proceed to do a little surgery on myself. Using a pocket sewing machine, I'll sew myself up and head on home for dinner.

Sitting in front of my Soul Food Cookin' book, I'll wait for my dinner to cook itself, regardless if I actually have anything in the fridge.

Sadly my glasses are broken, but if I make out most of the words I should be fine and fed.

silly huh? but isn't that sorta the same as "Sola Scriptura"?

Sorry, just finished a rather lengthy series of lectures on the Reformation(s), and boy those folks struck me as such a prideful bunch of idjets . . . think I'd a fit in just fine (o;
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"Unbroken line of shepherds"

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Thanks to my brother Athos over at the 4Ms for adding this, along with his ever extending hand reaching out to our brothers and sisters in Christ "who know not what they don't do".

Seems fitting today, as I just noticed a sign for the new Dan Brown trash at Barnes and Noble, and I wondered to myself how the manager of the store might respond if I asked him if they had any Anti-semitic or Anti-Muslim books;

"No?, than why do you carry this?"

I would than reply whilst holding up a copy of the Da Vinci Commode.

*got a box of Berger Cookies for the first person that actually does this :o)
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Youth Passes

from an e-story on the recent documentary, Farrah's Story, on Farrah Fawcett's fight with cancer;

"Clutching a rosary, Fawcett is shown unguarded in a hospital gown being slid into a MRI machine. In a rare moment of peace in between treatments, Fawcett crosses herself and thanks God for the opportunity to visit a beautiful mountainside."

May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.
Amen
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National Health Care?

Above: a few of the reasons why National Health Care
might be a bad idea.

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"making them stained glass pictures of Jesus glow"

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"When you was singing that song about Jesus' hands," he said, "the sun was setting behind you, and it was making them stained glass pictures of Jesus glow. The sound of your buddy's violin was bouncing off these stone walls, and, well, you was saying more than you was even saying."

from an interesting article on the Arts by Christian singer songwriter Carolyn Arends, over at Christianity Today.
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More or less

"I do none harm,
I say none harm,
I think none harm.
And if this be not enough to keep a man alive,
in good faith I long not to live."

"Oh how sad a state our world is today, when society seems to canonize the likes of satan's pretentious puppets Michael Moore, Alberto Cutie', or our Abortion president, and vilify anyone of faith or conscience who holds fast to truth and genuine love"

St . Thomas More pray for our leaders!
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A Happy Father's Day

No more Father's Day cards for me to buy last minute,
or poorly wrapped framed whatevers,
but prayers forever continue on behalf of my father,
so that he soon enters, if not already,
our Father's house above.

I miss you
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The Beautiful Son

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Every time I listen to this tune now, as a child of God, I can't help but change, in my over caffeinated noggin, the word "sun" to "Son, as to walk in His light is my/our only true hope.

For any of my friends, who (like myself) have let themselves, during theses cloudy days, forget for a bit, how much they are loved, and by Who (O:

I love you

He loves you more!!!

Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll be brighter

Some day, yeah
We'll put it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of the beautiful Son
Some day
When the world is much brighter
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Yours Days are Numbered : Part II

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http://mattandginny.blogspot.com/
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Your Days are Numbered

A new book from a personal hero of mine, hopefully reminding each of us that tomorrow is promised to no one . . .but Christ's love is promised to everyone!

From publishers website :Since I was young, I have watched death come: for my grandparents; for a multitude of my church members; for my mother; for my brother; and then for me.

But I was not ready when I knew it was coming for me. I was scared to death the morning of the surgery to open me up to remove my left kidney, ureter, and scrape my bladder. I was not ready. I felt in an instant how much of my precious time on this Earth as a human being had been spent being distracted from the absolute and undeniable fact. I. Will. Die.

It was partly my fault – who wants to think about that? It was mostly the milieu in which I was born, lived, and moved through life: modern popular culture strives during our every waking moment to keep our consciousness from the fact of our mortality. We are distracted to death. Sure: it fills with near-pornographic glee the movies, television dramas, comedies, thrillers, gore fests with other peoples’ deaths, but never does it put death in first person singular.

So at 10:30 a.m. on the morning of April 24, 2008, I had my personal Garden of Gethsemane. I was alone (literally). I was mortally afraid. I was not ready or at peace with the fact that I was moving toward my death, and death was moving toward me.

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The surgery was successful, but in December of the same year, cystoscopy showed I had lesions in my bladder, and chemotherapy was prescribed. It was at moment that A Little Guide for Your Last Days began to be written. As much for me as for anyone else who might read it.

For any readers who are Christian, Little Guide is my express understanding of the grace of God in Jesus Christ to save us from both the penalty of sin and the fear and pain of death. Yes; it is Catholic in theology and understanding. That is where I find the most truth, the most hope, the most understanding of our human condition, and the most answers to our human plight.

I want A Little Guide for Your Last Days to be not only a memento mori – a reminder of your mortality – but a book of lessons for living your life more in keeping with the will of our self-donating, covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. And He is most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Scarecrow of Capitol Hill

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maybe this is what we need to save us from our politicians attempts at saving us (O:

Retro Post: Pilgrim's Romantic Progress

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As I seem to have been talking up Dawn Eden's book a lot lately, I thought I'd re-post my earlier review to hopefully further inspire folks to go out and pick up a copy.

From March 2007

While on my flight to the OC this week, I finished Dawn Eden's inspiring semi-biographical relationship guide"The Thrill of the Chaste". Eden's own popular blog, The Dawn Patrol, was your wannabe massketeer's main inspiration for this here web-log.

In "The Thrill of the Chaste - Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On", Ms. Eden (a 30 something Jewish convert to Catholicism) takes on the destructive elements of the Sex and the City/Match.com speed-dating culture, mainly through her courage to reveal her own past as a willing player of today's "blink of an eye" dating game. Although written from a female perspective, it actually took me a while to finish, because I painfully saw a little too much of myself in it - as me thinks most of this generation also will (I mean, they'll see themselves, not me . . .everyone's an editor). I've already given out over a dozen copies, with my non-religious friends enjoying it even more than my church buddies.

Utilizing her own life, she lays out a hopeful GPS map for marriage minded women, revealing all the pitfalls, pit bulls, and boobie traps along the way (bad pun, I know). Quotes from Carole King to John Paul II, help keep the book as trendy as it is traditional, with a firm grasp on both.

While it is on the one hand a relationship guide, I tend to see it more as the story of the healing of a heart . . .or more to the point, the renewing of a heart.

It did leave this Bawlmer born bloggin' blogger with three small points, that I felt were not properly addressed:

1) The L Word - while she points out the Biblical/ Theology on the Body view that sex is part of the "one flesh union" of marriage, part of a forever commitment between a man and woman. Building on that premise, sex outside of marriage is actually, as Christopher West puts it, "telling lies with your body".

But another unintentional lie people often tell in relationships is the big "I Love You", words as Rev. James Dobson writes "should only be said after a decision on marriage has been made".Our hearts do tend to hear those words in forever terms, regardless of how easily we throw them about, so me thinks a good rule would be, the "L" word followed by ring one, and ring two followed by . . .well, you know (O:

2) Chasing the Chaste - I found out early on in my dating life, that if I wanted to have sex with a girl, to just keep my hands to myself (no, not like that), as within a few weeks the doubts and frustration about NOT being manhandled by me, would usually have the woman soon attacking this ex-long hair. I would get the same desired results, usually faster, with the positive benefit of appearing the gentleman . . .yes, diabolical I know, that's why I bring it up now.

Women repeat after me:

"He is not groping me, because he cherishes me",
repeat often.

Both the man and woman need to have a serious talk early on, where it is decided that there will be NO physical activity until they hear that "I do" (although I would suggest you make it out of the church parking lot). To be honest, I have even decided that if I, God willing, should ever date again, that even passionate kissing be ruled out. Hugs, hugs, and more hugs . . .I am all about the hugs (as my Shel Silverstein "Hug a War" tattoo boldly demonstrates).

3) Confession needs to be made - Yes, Miss Eden needs to confess to her priest that she has in fact been eating Ciabatta roles on the NY Subway, which is completely verboten, and a subject she blatantly, almost proudly, proclaims in her fine book. Get thee to a nunnery, Dawn Eden, get thee now!

Anyhow, I strongly recommend this beautiful book to anyone who feels marriage is there vocation, for both men and women, Christian or Jew, virgin or not-so virgin.

God made you special, and He loves you very much!

The Real Change

It wasn't until I looked at what little money I had left from my pay check after taxes, that I finally understood that The President's idea of "change" is what little he allows us to keep.
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